Pleating device



June 26,1951 P. SOLOMON 2,558,467

PLEATING DEVICE Filed Jan. 16, 1951 MolL a; v J 230 INVENTOR.

Patented June 26, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PLEATING DEVICE Bert P. Solomon, Detroit, Mich.

Application January 16, 1951, Serial No. 206,216

Be it known that the undersigned has invented a new and useful pleating device of which the following is a specification.

In the making of drapes, the task of forming pleats and of hanging the drapes so that satisfactory pleating and hanging of the drapes will be assured is quite diflicult, often beyond the capacity of the inexperienced. In this application there is disclosed a device for pleating drapes and for hanging them, useful in the manner described herein to enable even the most inexperienced person to obtain satisfactory results.

For an understanding of the device herein disclosed and its manner of use, reference should be had to the appended drawing and to the following specification.

In this drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view of a pleating device, full size.

Fig. 2 is a side view as if from the right of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a quarter-scale view of a drape formed for use with the pleating device of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic right edge view of the drape of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a full-scale diagrammatic view of the drape formed for pleating.

Fig. 6 is a double-scale diagrammatic view of the drape pleated in a triple or French pleat.

Fig. '7 shows a drape formed for box pleating.

Fig. 8 shows the drape of Fig. '7 box pleated.

Fig. 9 shows two drapes formed for being pleated and joined. I

Fig. 10 shows the drapes of Fig. 9 pleated and joined.

The pleating device hereof includes three pieces of wire, referenced [0, H, and 12, which are formed as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and soldered together by solder at two points M to form a unitary pleater. The lower part of the device may be regarded as a base and the four upwardly projecting portions may be regarded as the four fingers of the pleater. Each finger is of fine wire. The wire I2 is bent, as shown, to provide a hook I! well below the upper ends of fingers l5.

The pleater is shown full scale, and is wide and 3 long, and the fingers are spaced 4;", A", and A,", respectively.

The wires are of springy material so that the fingers, which are long, tend to retain their predetermined shape and spacing, as shown in Fig. 1, and to return thereto if sprung away.

The use of the pleater herein disclosed will now be described, with reference particularly to Figs. 3-10.

2 Claims. (011160-448) There is provided for use with the pleater a pattern in the form of a strip of paper, approximately 3" wide and 48" long. On this strip are marked lines corresponding in general to the lines 20 arranged in pairs 2|, as shown on Fig. 3. This strip is a pattern strip and is used as follows:

A drape 30 has its upper end turned over at 3| to provide a loose hem 32 which may be tacked or basted down. The pattern strip, previously described, is then laid over the hem 32, whereupon stitch lines 20 are sewn on the hem 32 to secure it to the body of the drape 30, after which the paper pattern strip may be torn off the hem to leave the hem stitched to the drape proper on lines '20. These lines are closely spaced and arranged in pairs. Each pair defines a long, narrow pocket or tunnel 2i inside the hem, open at its lower end and closed at its upper end where the hem is folded over at 3|. The several pairs are spaced on a spacing considerably greater than the spacing of the lines of a pair, and the several groups shown are spaced apart an even greater space. Thus, for a 3" hem, the spacing of a pair is A,", the spacing between pairs is 1%," and the spacing between groups is 4", by way of example.

Thereupon, the four fingers of a pleater are worked into the four pockets or tunnels 2| formed by the pairs of stitch lines 20, with the result that at each group of four pockets there is formed a triple or French pleat, as shown in Fig. 6.

Since the several pleaters on a drape are identical, the groups of pleats of a drape will likewise be identical, assuming, of course, that the stitch lines were formed according to the pattern provided and above described. Likewise, since the several pleaters on a drape are identical, the hanger hooks I! will be located properly and identically so that the drape will hang evenly. These hanger hooks may be used for hanging the drape on the sliders of traverse rods or directly over a drape rod, below the upper edge of the drape and thereby concealed.

Figs. 7-8 show the formation of a box pleat. The outer two tunnels 2| of each group are utilized, with the inner two tunnels 2| of each group being omitted or not utilized. The two outer fingers of the pleater will be squeezed together and used in pairs, two fingers to a loop or tunnel 2|, to define the box pleat.

Figs. 910 show the joining and pleating of two drapes, I30 and 230, utilizing tunnels 2| formed by lines 20, with two fingers and two tunnels to a drape.

Now having described the pleater herein disclosed and its manner of use, reference should be had to the claims which follow.

I claim:

' 1. For use with a drape having at its upper edge a plurality of vertically extending horizontally spaced parallel tunnels or loops closed at their upper ends and open at their lower ends, a pleater and hanger device insertable upwardly into said tunnels through their open lower ends, said device having a drape hanging hook and four coplanar closely and horizontally spaced upwardly projecting elongated vertical pleating fingers having blunted upper ends, all four of said fingers being of substantially the same length and extending the full lengths of said tunnels, and projecting well above the hook and being spaced two to each side of the hook, said fingers and hook being interconnected at their lower ends, with all four fingers coming together at their lower ends closer than at their upper ends for pinching the p eats togeth at the l wer ends of the tunnel the han er and pl ete bein eenst u ted of wir and being fprrned and dimensioned to have suffire ilienee at the le e ends or the fin ers to e ab e all in rs o be moved manually and sil tows s or away from one nother to iai tete n tien hi the fingers into sai unn ls and t nable the in ermed ate fin ers to be s ueezed manually towards and closely adjac nt h ou ermost fing rs Or a Eonsiderable distance the fin ers havin an inherent into said tunnels through their open lower ends,

said device having a drape hanging hook and four 40 coplanar closely and horizontally spaced upwardly projecting elongated vertical pleating fingers having blunted upper ends, all four of said fingers being of substantially the same length and extending the full lengths of said tunnels, and projecting well above the hook and being spaced two to each side of th hook, said fingers and hook being interconnected at their lower ends, with all four fingers coming together at their lower ends closer than at their upper ends for pinching the pleats together at the lower ends of the tunnels, the hanger and p'leater being constructed of wire and being formed and dimensioned to have sufiicient resilience at the lower ends of the fingers to enable all fingers to be moved manually and easily towards or away from one another to facilitate insertion of the fingers into said tunnels and to enable the intermediate fingers to be squeezed manually towards and closely adjacent the outermost fingers for a considerable distance along such fingers, the fingers having an inherent tendencyto return to their original spacing after being manually squeezed together or spread apart, the outer pair of fingers being the legs of .a U-shaped piece of wire, the inner pair of fingers also being the legs of a second u-shap d p e of wire nested coplanar with and inside .the first piece of wire, and the hook being an inverted third vU -shaped piece of wire whose plane is normal to the plane of the vfirst two pieces of wire, all three pi c s being joined at the nested bights oi the fir t two and at the end of one leg of the third piece.

BERT P. SOLOMON.

REF CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

